Lene Marlin

I am re-discovering my love for this favourite singer of mine when I was 16 years old. Her songs back then were a source of inspiration to the wide-eyed teenager who thought that she could take on the world and emerge unscathed.

It seems like no matter how alone you think that you are in the things that you experience and gone through, the growth and maturity that you got out of it, there is definitely someone out there who seemed to be evolving together with you.

Listening to her songs, I find so much meaning in the lyrics and the poignancy of the melody that it felt like a sense of calm is washing over me simply because I know that I am not alone in feeling the way that I did or do.

It is kinda a nice feeling.

I find that recently, I have been feeling a lot of inner turmoil, a mixture of my own insecurities, suspicions, anger and worries stamping from my uncertainty of the future and of my own life.

This is definitely a phase that everyone goes through at some point of their life, and although I hate feeling like this sometimes, I am also, at the very least, thankful that I am not alone in this. I am trying to look at this like an obstacle course that I have to navigate through in order to get to the other end. And hopefully once I get there, I would have learnt a litte bit more about myself and about the life that I want for myself.

Macau Trip Part III

My second week in Macau is almost over! OMG! Where has the time gone to? Pretty much been staying in a lot because there's virtually nothing to do in Macau if you've been here for a while, and I HAVE been here for a while! And also because I love to sleep. =P

But it's okay, because we are going to Hong Kong this weekend! Yippie! Finally going to Hong Kong! I've been wanting to go to Hong Kong for a while now, and this overnight trip is definitely the highlight of the week! And both Jasu and me decided to splurge a little and stay in the Langham Hotel, which is kinda an upscale hotel in Hong Kong.

Shopping shopping, here I come!!! And Jasu promised me that we will go dabinlo in Hong Kong. Yeah!!!

Anyway, today I went to Hac Sa beach and Coloane Village to explore around and take some pictures. I've actually been to both places before last week, when Jasu's colleague drove us around, but did not really get to take any pictures.

I did not really spend a long time at either places. Hac Sa is nice enough for a beach, but a bit crowded and noisy with all the tour groups, coming by the busloads. Guess the place is somewhat of a tourist attraction. I still prefer the tranquility of East Coast Park or the beaches at Sentosa on a weekday. =D

Coloane Village is a nice, quiet little village, away from the hustle and bustle of the city area. I took a short walk around, and went to Lord Stow's Bakery to buy some of their pastries. Apart from really famous egg tarts, they have this custard-like cheesecake which is really nice, but a bit too heavy for me. I also bought a really huge muffin which kinda looks like the "huat kuah" we have in Singapore. Haven't ate it yet though so I have no idea what it tastes like. Probably good, judging from the business of the bakery.

After that, it was back home for a short rest, then to Venetian to meet Jasu for dinner. I decided to forgo taking a taxi and walked there, cutting through Taipa Village on the way. I realised that Taipa Village has become somewhat of a favourite place of mine. Especially in the evenings, when the place comes alive, exuding a nice, quiet local charm.

After meeting up with Jasu, we decided to have Japanese food at Taipa Village, and then it's back home for us. Hehheh, we were actually contemplating whether to go out for drinks or do something. However, laziness won over and now she is playing Nintendo WII and I am surfing the net and blogging. Hehheh, a lazy in-night for us again.

A little evaluation thus far. I feel that Macau is a charming place with a lot of unique local and cultural flavours. But the people here can be quite rude and customer service is definitely rare. And it can be challenging for someone who don't speak the local languages. I do understand and speak a little Cantonese, and even so it is a little difficult for me to get through to them at times. But once you get used to it, I guess it's not really that big of a problem. The important thing to remember is some of them are not rude to you because they hate you or anything, they are actually just rude to everyone! =D

Maybe

I think that sometimes this thing I can only describe as the "relationship dynamics" is something that you cannot really define, no matter how hard you try to place a tag on it.

It is like no matter how familiar this phrase is to you, and how much you have used it, you just don't realise what it really means until you have actually experienced it.

I thought that distance would be a good way of getting some perspective in regards to certain issues in my life right now. But apparently distance really does makes the heart grows fonder, if I may use a term like that, at least to me.

I feel that it is not necessary a bad thing. I am getting more of this sense of balance for myself, and I am beginning to see more of a positive than negative aspect of it. Maybe it's just being in another country, resting and relaxing, that I kinda feel less fretful. And of course, I can feel a bit of effort whether intentional or not.

However, sometimes just when you think that things are going well, and everything is really, well, just nice, something simple might just destroy the serenity that has been achieved. A simple ingenuous action or a casual passing remark. It can be anything that will become the catalyst that blows up with the lack of understanding, or rather the “you-thought-you-understood-but-you-thought-wrong”, you have of each other.

I guess the best thing would be to stop wondering where things will go, and to just go with the flow. Happiness is fleeting enough as it is, and to destroy whatever there is of it, would be pretty stupid.

I have tried a couple of times in the past few days to complete this entry, however, something always seemed to be missing. However, something happened to finally allow me to fill in the missing piece. And yet I feel this sense of apprehension attempting to snarl me. I just wish that the sense of ease and contentment that I felt in the past week will come back to me soon.

A Slacker's Life

It's time to blog! Hehheh, haven't been updating much because I haven't really been doing much. Just slacking around, msning and surfing the net.

However, on Friday, I went around to explore on my own by bus all by myself! I am so proud, although there are probably tons of people who does that everyday. I went to Senado Square to take a proper look around, and after that ended up at the Maritime Museum by mistake because I took the bus from the wrong side. However, I went on in to take a look, and really enjoyed the exhibits. After that I went to Macau Fisherman's Wharf, which was where I wanted to go in the first place, and took tons of pictures before meeting up with Jacintha and her colleagues for dinner. It was a fun day, doing touristy stuffs. I am looking forward to exploring more next week.

It's been more than a week since I arrived in Macau, and I think that the people pretty much have a very relaxed lifestyle, without much stress. But the standard of living here is really high too, maybe even more so than Singapore! I haven't bought much of anything and already I have spent more than half of the money that I intended to spend here, and all on food, food and food!

Uh oh! I am going to have trouble buying souvenirs if I keep eating like this!

Hiak hiak.

But this is the life! I know I am going to miss this life when I go back to Singapore. But I really, really miss my family and friends in Singapore. I miss Mima! And my Pinkies! Kekeke, and the people who know that I miss them. =P What a way to cover my bases, eh? Haha!

Macau Trip Part II

Had a lazy Sunday, staying in msning and surfing net in the afternoon. Hehheh, looks like my internet addiction does not wane even when I am in another country. Anyway, in the evening， Jasu brought me to the last showing of Burn The Floor here in Macau at the Sands Casino. I wanted to watch it when it was in Singapore a while back, but din't had the time. The show was quite good, but I think I prefer something with more of a plot to it.

After the show, we went to the Wynn Casino, which is one of the best casinos in Macau, to have dinner and to take a look at around the casino. I haven't placed a bet yet since I reached Macau, which I think is a good sign. =D

Anyway, that's all for my day 3 in Macau. Hehheh, but here are pictures of some of the food I like:


I had this in Shen Zhen on the second day here, it's call 酸辣粉 (suan la fen), and it's really tasty! A bit different from the tom yam soup or sweet and sour soup that we have in Singapore.


Lord Stow's is a well-known bakery here among the locals. When we reached the shop, it was crowded with people waiting for a fresh batch of...


What else? Portugese egg tarts!!! They are really fresh and delicious, even to someone who do not really fancy egg tarts like me.


And this is what me and Jasu had for dinner. *slurp* Char shao and shao rou will not be the same to me anymore. =P~~~~~~

That's about it. We did had some really nice roadside bbq stuffs that Jasu's friend recommended. But I forgot to take pictures and both me and Jasu felt a little queasy after eating it. Oh well, another day of food exploration for me tomorrow. Looks like all I do here is eat, eat, eat and eat！ =P

Macau Trip Part I

Macau! My home for the next 3 - 4 weeks, depending on when I feel like going back... Hiak hiak.

The first two days here itself was already rather exciting for me. After I reached Jasu's place and dropped off my luggaga, we went to this place the locals know as "The Fountain" and tried some of the local food. The pork bun is FANTASTIC. *slurp*

We walked around for a while after that and took a look at the St Paul's Ruins, but had to rush off for our ferry to Shen Zhen as we had to send Jasu's friend, Li Yue aka Moonie back to China the next day and we had reservations to stay overnight there.

But we missed the last ferry to go, and had to take a bus from Zhu Hai at around 9 plus, which means we would only reach Shen Zhen almost close to midnight. Between our tireness and our worry that we would lose our room, we somehow managed to check-in at the Best Western Felicity Hotel a little after midnight. It's a 5-star hotel which is kinda old, but the staff is really friendly and the rooms are very clean. The staff even extended our check-out time to 3 pm because we arrived late. Now that is what I call a 5-star service!

After we woke up in the morning, we took the hotel transport to the Windows Of the World theme park, which showcases miniature replicas of famous places from around the world. The ticket costs about RMB 120 which is around SGD24 or so. At first I thought it was a little expensive, but after going in, I thought that it was money well-spent. The replicas were all very intricate and life-like. It almost felt like we were there at the actual location sans the size. Although the weather was really hot, I really enjoyed myself there.

After that, We went back to our hotel for a short rest, and then took a cab over to this place known as "Dong Men€" that the hotel staff reccommended for some "cheap shopping". It was kinda disappointing for me, I did not really get anything. The people there are kinda pushy when it comes to getting you to buy stuffs, while the tourists are rude like hell! They kinda just push over you if they want to get through, no excuse me or anything! But I guess you kinda get used to people like that after a while.

Around evening time, after sending Moonie to the airport, me and Jasu began our bus ride back to Zhu Hai and then to Macau. We did a little walking around in Zhu Hai and bought some DVDs, and came back home!

Just around 48 hours here, and already I feel like I have been here for days, although I enjoyed myself thoroughly! =D Expect more of my trip experiences in days to come!

Nothing And Something

I was bored tonight and I started looking around for some random blogs to read.

And it was then that I realised how much my blog had changed in the short two years since I started it.

Content-wise. Somehow, it had managed to go from rather Englishy, with a bit of pompousness to rather Hokkieny, with almost the same amount of haolianess. And mix in a lot of insecure and irrational ramblings, tadah, my blog you get!

Not to say if I like or dislike the change. It's me and the way I have grown or "ungrown" throughout the months and years. I like to think that I am evolving as I go along, but somehow, it also seems like I am reverting back to certain behaviouristics (for lack of a better word, I have created this new word! It's mine!) of my childhood.

I was talking to a classmate about the flight seatings for our trip to US, and I mentioned that I am happy with the arrangements. And he replied back, saying that of course I am happy, because I have surrounded myself with all the people in class that I like, to which I agreed. Then he commented that I am behaving like a baby.

And I realised that maybe compared to a couple of years ago, when I was trying so hard to act like an adult, now, I seem to be making up for those lost years, because I think I do behave like a child at times.

I am saying that its a bad thing, because it's definitely not. I do miss being a teenager a lot. I miss my secondary school days when the only burdens I have was worrying about where to go after school and how to spend my weekends.

Sometimes I do wonder what it is in life really that motivates us to go the entire way, and not give up in the middle. Especially when it seems like the best times of our lives is right at the beginning, and passes us by so fast.

Not that I am suicidal or whatever, just a general wonderment. I am wondering a lot nowadays. I think it is a good sign. It means that maybe, just maybe, things are really back to normal now. =D